mr. feingold: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wisconsin. mr. feingold: i ask my full statement be placed in the record. i'm pleased to rise in spropbg support of the tphoplg nation of harold koh. i've known dean koh for more than 30 years. he is an excellent choice for this position. i say that not just because he's one of my oldest friends but because he's one of the leading legal scholars in the country. he's extraordinarily qualified for this position. mr. president, dean koh is one of the most intelligent, ethical and hard-working individuals i've ever encountered. he spent his career, some 30 years, working on public and private international law, national security law, and on human rights. throughout that time, he's been committed to america's security and to defending our constitution. he's dedicated his life to upholding the rule of law and strengthening american values. during his confirmation hearing, the senate foreign relations committee, dean koh effectively responded to all the charges against him. he made clear that he understands

mr. feingold: thank you, madam president. every year i have a town hall meeting in every county in wisconsin after 1,188 of those sessions, i heard a lot from my constituents on pretty much every issue you can imagine. but one issue in particular stands out as it is consistently been one of the top issues raised throughout the 17 years, than issue is, of course, health care. again and again, and not just at listening sessions, but at conversations an phone calls an letters and e-mails, wisconsinites have talked to me about their struggles to obtain and afford health insurance coverage. their stories have stayed with me and been the foundation of my work to push comprehensive health reform throughout my career in the united states senate. as freshman senator i worked to increase access to long-term care and home and community-based services in the wisconsin tradition during the 1994 attempt at health reform. because i knew how valuable these programs were to my constituents. i continue to fight for real and fair access to affo

mr. harkin: i ask that senators feingold and bennett and menendez be added as cosponsors. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: i yield back our time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brownback: an behalf of the republicans, i yield back our time. the presiding officer: without objection. question is on adoption of the resolution. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the yeas appear to have it. the ayes have it. the resolution is agreed to. mr. harkin: madam president, i ask that the -- i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: thank you, madam president. madam president, i have 10 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. theft apriewl of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. presid

mr. sherman. >> thank you, senator feingold. senator corker? >> thank you, ambassador, for being here. you certainly have your work cut out for you. in your testimony you mention your findings on your recent trip include that china shares deep concern about north korea's recent actions and strong commitment to achieve denuclearization. there's a wide you, mr. ambassador, that if china really had to squeeze the north korean neighbor on the issue of the denuclearization, they could accomplish this in the way that really no other country on the globe can do. did you find their concern to be deeper and their commitment to be stronger than before the missile test and nuclear test, and would he speak to this lightly held view that i mentioned, that china really could accomplish this if they were of mind to? >> i think first it is fair to say that we found china very concerned, acutely concerned about what north korea has done and is doing in the nuclear field and the area of missile technology. they recognize perhaps more than anyone else these moves by north korea can have a very deleteriou

pryor, whitehouse, inouye, feingold, dodd, burris, durbin, murray, tester, udall of colorado, klobuchar, reed of rhode island, baucus, merkley, lincoln, cantwell, dorgan. mr. reid: i ask that the mandatory quorum be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. reid: i ask the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask now that we proceed to a period of monk business, senators allowed to speak -- of morning business, senators allowed to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, let me just say a brief word on the cloture that was not invoked on the travel bill. i hope that everyone understands what obstructionism is. this is obstructionism at its best, and it goes along with what the republicans said they wanted to do and that is stop everything. as indicated in "roll call" newspaper last week. this is a bill that saves the government money, almost a half a billion dollars over ten years. it would create in the first year of the -- after passage of the bill 40,000 jobs. the republicans just killed th this. over